Labyrinth Dancer

Chapter Six: Friday Mayhem

The night had been rougher than even Inara had expected of it; luckily the twins had slept just fine, the shouting and cursing remaining downstairs for the vast majority of the night till he had passed out in the bathroom downstairs. 

Inara heard Karen call in to work for him around six in the morning, about when the twins needed to start getting ready for the day. Karen got them ready and out to the bus in time as Inara tried to get at least an hours worth of sleep before class. 

As she fell asleep though, it was as though she was being lulled into a lullaby by a song she'd heard so long ago. The words evaded her as she drifted off, but the melody was familiar, reassuring in fact. 

Without even realizing it, she was unconscious and lost in dreams that she could never imagine. 

Everything was dark, no light touched the space around her; yet, she felt safer then she'd felt in years since her mother had died. 

The sound of an owl made her eyes open, a soft glimmer of light was beginning to form ahead of her somewhere, she ran towards it; hoping to catch up to it. 

As she tried to catch up with it though, the darkness behind her began to chase her, shadow-like claws of pitch black reached for her, sounds too painful to listen to sounded. And as she reached the light, she was suddenly engulfed in it; the darkness howled painfully, vanishing as the light seemed to enter her body. 

Now the darkness that had been chasing her was afraid of her; how strange. 

Jolting up as her alarm clock went off she blinked her eyes against the light coming through the window. What an unusual dream. 

***School***

Surprisingly most of the day passed without incident; however, Inara's senses were going crazy as she felt something menacing seemed to be coming. Maybe it was just waiting for the jocks revenge on her for what had happened in the Auditorium; but, something in the air felt strange, as if there was about to be a very big turning point for good or bad in her life. 

As she headed to Study Hall for her last period of the day, she found none other than Jared at the table she usually sat at among the shelves of the Library. He had not noticed her approaching so she took a moment to take him in. Of all of the Interns that had worked under Sarah, he was by far the strangest; his mannerisms made him seem like he was from another time; yet, something about him seemed almost...well, inhuman to her. 

As she looked him over though in that moment as she leaned against the old worn out dark oak bookcases  he seemed to have a light all of his own that was illuminating that shadowy area between the bookcases. 

Inara could not help but notice the slight silvery highlights that were mixed in with his blond hair, or how the strands appeared silky. Her eyes went to his hands, one was mindlessly playing with a pen on a notebook doodling it seemed as he read, the other hand was carefully holding the book every so often turning the pages as he continued to read on. 

As her eyes flickered down to the cover of the book she smiled unexpectedly in surprise at what it was. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, ironically that seemed to fit his mannerisms and tastes. 

Shaking herself out of the daze she had fallen under for a moment she looked back up at him only to see him staring at her with a smirk. 

"I take it that you're a fan of Shakespeare as well?" He asked her softly, as she quietly and red faced sat down across from him. 

"Hamlet actually, it's one of my favorites. What's yours?" She asked quietly. 

He chuckled for a moment, "Venus & Adonis; unusual but I enjoy the poet prose." 

She nodded, it was a good piece of Poetry; Shakespeare had written quite a few sonnets and plays but his poetry was just as wonderful. 

He handed her the book and she smirked at him, feeling bold for a moment. "I have both pretty much memorized, but thank you. I believe I'll read the other book I have..." 

As she spoke she pulled out the copy of the Labyrinth she had tucked away into her bag. When she looked back up, Jared had seemingly paled slightly but he smiled at her nodding as he took his own book back. 

"Looks to be an interesting read, not anything compared to Shakespeare though I suppose?" He seemed curious as to what she thought of it and she smiled. 

"I'm not sure how it came to be in my possession; but, it has seemingly been a lifesaver for the romantic in me." 

At her words he seemed to blush slightly and then coughed turning back to his book. 

"I'll have to find a copy myself then..." 

She smiled at him, meeting his mismatched gaze. In that moment, even Sarah down in the Auditorium coaching freshmen on how to handle costumes could sense that something had just transpired. 

And the only one that seemed oblivious to it...was Inara Evans...